If nothing else, 2012 proved again that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The city of Scranton, long the poster child for dysfunctional municipal government in Pennsylvania, pushed the distinction to a new level during the year with a multitude of fiscal issues that left employees temporarily earning minimum wage and sent the mayor and council scurrying to court in the hope of taxing commuters.
Scranton's deepening financial crisis was selected as Northeast Pennsylvania's top news story of the past 12 months by the staff of The Sunday Times.
It was the clear-cut choice over a pair of stories involving politicians who behaved badly - the imprisonment of former Lackawanna County Commissioners Robert C. Cordaro and A.J. Munchak for their public corruption convictions, and former state Sen. Robert J. Mellow's guilty plea and sentencing on a federal conspiracy charge.
Readers of the newspaper's website, www.thetimes-tribune.com, selected Jerry Sandusky's conviction on child-sex charges - and the scandal's fallout at Penn State University - as the year's No. 1 story.
Here is another look at the top 10 stories you read in The Times-Tribune in 2012:
1. Distress, default, debt
For Scranton, 2012 could go down as the "annus horribilis," when the city's fiscal house of cards finally collapsed.
Scranton ended the year as it began it - in court seeking approval for funding - and at mid-year teetered on the brink of its own fiscal cliff.
Twenty years after the state designated Scranton financially distressed under Act 47, the events of 2012 offered little hope for shedding the label anytime soon.
Swamped by deficits, city officials went to court three times to seek approval for funding. They won the court's blessing in January and October for separate unfunded debt packages but were rejected in December in their bid to impose a commuter tax on people who work in the city but reside elsewhere.
The year was not half over when a Scranton Parking Authority default induced by city council sent shockwaves throughout the financial industry.
But the perhaps the most unforgettable development came in July when City Hall, locked in a political war between mayor and council over revising the Act 47 recovery plan, nearly ran out of cash.
With only $5,000 in the city's bank accounts, Mayor Chris Doherty unilaterally slashed the pay of city workers to minimum wage in a temporary stop-gap measure that made news around the globe.
Cheyenne, Wyo., even ran an employment ad in The Times-Tribune for six openings on its police force, hoping to lure away some experienced but disenchanted Scranton officers.
The city scraped by after being bailed out by a loan and grant package from the state and a short-term loan from a union-owned bank. The city still had to float two expensive bond issues totaling $26 million in the final quarter to make ends meet.
2. Cordaro, Munchak imprisoned
During their four years as Lackawanna County's majority commissioners, Republicans Robert C. Cordaro and A.J. Munchak built a state-of-the-art 911 center, undertook a long-overdue renovation of the historic courthouse and brought the New York Yankees' top minor league baseball team to Northeast Pennsylvania.
But it is what happened in a federal courtroom in late January that will be their legacy.
U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo sentenced Mr. Cordaro to 11 years in prison and Mr. Munchak to seven years for their roles in a bribery and extortion scheme in which the commissioners pocketed tens thousands of dollars in exchange for handing out lucrative county contracts.
Federal marshals immediately took Mr. Cordaro into custody, and he is now serving his sentence at a federal correctional institution at Fort Dix, N.J. Mr. Munchak surrendered in April at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina. Both are low-security facilities.
The former commissioners have appealed their 2011 convictions to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
3. Mellow's downfall
Robert J. Mellow could be counted among the most powerful political figures in Pennsylvania before his retirement from the state Senate two years ago.
In a few weeks, he will become Inmate No. 70626-067.
Mr. Mellow, the former Senate Democratic leader, is scheduled to surrender Jan. 15 to begin serving a 16-month federal sentence for scheming to have Senate staff members do political campaign work and conspiring to file a false tax return that saved him about $16,000 in taxes.
Even before Mr, Mellow left the Senate in 2010 after a 40-year career in Harrisburg, he had drawn the scrutiny of federal investigators. But the details of what they found did not emerge until March, when the former senator agreed to plead guilty to a single conspiracy charge.
A repentant Mr. Mellow told U.S. District Judge Joel H. Slomsky at his sentencing in November that he was "embarrassed and ashamed."
"I'm very, very sorry, and I will be for the rest of my life," he said.
4. Old Forge scandal
Known as the self-proclaimed "Pizza Capital of the World," Old Forge gained notoriety of a far less savory sort in May when it became the center of an underage sex scandal.
Federal, state and county investigators stepped in after a 23-year-old woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by Police Chief Larry Semenza, police Capt. Jamie Krenitsky and a former borough firefighter, Walter Chiavacci, when she was 15 years old. All three men were arrested.
Mr. Chiavacci pleaded guilty earlier this month and is awaiting sentencing. Chief Semenza and Capt. Krenitsky have maintained their innocence and are expected to stand trial in 2013.
The victim has filed a civil lawsuit against the borough, the officers and Mr. Chiavacci in federal court. Attorneys for Chief Semenza and Capt. Krenitsky have suggested the woman brought the allegations against the officers in an attempt to reap a financial reward.
5. Sandusky conviction, sentence
Jerry Sandusky's victims achieved a measure of closure in October when the former Penn State University assistant football coach was sentenced in Centre County Court to 30 to 60 years in state prison for sexually assaulting 10 young boys he met through a children's charity he founded.
However, the scandal rippled far beyond the courtroom.
In July, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh released the findings of a university-commissioned investigation that concluded top officials at Penn State - including former football coach Joe Paterno, who died in January - concealed information about Mr. Sandusky's predatory activities from authorities and the public.
Just days later, the NCAA levied unprecedented sanctions against the school and its football program. They included a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban, the elimination of 20 football scholarships, and the reversal of more than 100 football victories, dropping Mr. Paterno from first to 12th on the list of all-time winningest coaches.
6. Rosetti admits guilt
As executive director of the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit for 12 years, Fred Rosetti, Ed.D., enjoyed the respect and trust of the public and his peers.
They learned in 2012 their trust and respect were misplaced.
Thirteen months after his retirement, Dr. Rosetti was indicted in February by a federal grand jury that accused him of misusing taxpayer money at NEIU by failing to document vacation days, creating false travel vouchers and ordering agency employees to do personal tasks for him.
Dr. Rosetti pleaded guilty in October to theft and mail fraud charges and is set to be sentenced in January. His plea deal with the U.S. attorney's office calls for 12 to 18 months of imprisonment and restitution of $120,000.
As an upshot of the investigation of Dr. Rosetti, polices and oversight at the NEIU have been strengthened. In addition, at the state level, a new law curbs contract buyouts for school superintendents and limits their compensation for unused sick leave.
7. Baseball franchise sold
The end of one era for professional baseball in Northeast Pennsylvania heralded the start of another.
In April, the Lackawanna County Multi-Purpose Stadium Authority finalized the sale of its Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Triple-A franchise to SWB Yankees LLC for $14.6 million, ending 26 years of public ownership of the team.
In the meantime, while the Yankees played the entire 2012 season on the road to accommodate the project, work got under way on a $43.3 million makeover of PNC Field.
But the team that christens the new ballpark in April won't be the Yankees. In November, after balloting by fans, the team announced its new name will be the RailRiders.
8. Kane makes history
Most pundits gave former Lackawanna County prosecutor Kathleen Granahan Kane little chance of winning when she announced her candidacy for Pennsylvania attorney general.
She proved them wrong in a big way.
In November, the Waverly Twp. resident defied history and convention to become the first woman and the first Democrat to be elected state attorney general, piling up more votes statewide than anyone else on the ballot.
Ms. Kane will be sworn in on Jan. 15.
9. Superstorm Sandy
While Superstorm Sandy visited havoc elsewhere, Northeast Pennsylvania largely dodged the destructive weather phenomenon dubbed the "Frankenstorm" by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The storm, formed by the commingling of weather fronts crossing over the nation's heartland and a hurricane fueled by the warm waters of the Caribbean, brought wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph to the region. Tens of thousands of people lost power.
The storm was blamed for three deaths in Northeast Pennsylvania, including an 8-year-old boy killed when a tree fell on him in Susquehanna County.
10. Stubborn unemployment
There was little to celebrate on the employment front in 2012.
Among the state's 14 metropolitan areas, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre held the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment for the year.
The jobless rate, which stood at 8.9 percent in January, rose steadily into the summer, topping out at 9.6 percent. That is where it remained in October, the last month for which data was available.
Staff writers Jim Lockwood, Steve McConnell, Sarah Hofius Hall and David Falchek contributed to this story.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com
Newsroom Top 10
1. Scranton's financial crisis
2. Cordaro, Munchak sentenced
3. Mellow pleads guilty
4. Old Forge sex scandal
5. Sandusky convicted, sentenced
6. Rosetti cops federal plea
7. Baseball franchise sold
8. Kane elected state attorney general
9. Superstorm Sandy
10. Stubborn unemployment
Readers' Top 10
1. Sandusky convicted, sentenced
2. Scranton's financial crisis
3. Mellow pleads guilty
4. Old Forge sex scandal
5. Rosetti cops federal plea
6. Cordaro, Munchak sentenced
7. Superstorm Sandy
8. Kane elected state attorney general
9. Stubborn unemployment
10. State cuts hit services, education
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